Donetsk People’s Republic’s second Representative Office in the EU opened in Turin Italy

Donetsk People’s Republic second Representative Office in the EU opened in Italian Turin, the DPR Foreign Ministry said. The Republic was represented by a member of the regional parliament of Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia) party Maurizio Marrone, who visited Donbass twice in 2016.

“I visited Donbass in September and in October and I have seen all the problems and sufferings the people of Donbass face daily. My aim is to tell Italy about what is going on in your region,” he said.

The Foreign Ministry said that the opening ceremony was also attended by the European Parliament members of Forward Italy party (Forza Italia, whose president is Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy), regional parliament members of the Brothers of Italy and the Lega Nord parties.

Maurizio Marrone and Eliseo Bertolasi (PhD in anthropology and geopolitical analytic in the Institute of Advanced Studies in Geopolitics and Auxiliary Sciences (IsAG) in Rome), both Italian citizens, will be in charge of the Representative Office.

Marrone read out the congratulation statement of DPR acting Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova, who expressed her gratitude to Italian colleagues for their support in launching the Representative Office.

“Yesterday, the second DPR Representative Center was opened in the European Union. This is another step towards strengthening the position of the Donetsk People’s Republic at the international level because the work of the Center is to be one of the most important elements of interaction of our young Republic and other countries in the framework of public diplomacy,” Nikonorova said.

Natalia Nikonorova, Foreign Minister of DPR

“In addition, the Representative Centre will contribute to the strengthening of informational, cultural and economic ties between the DPR and Italy, and also serve as a bridge between the nations. On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPR and on behalf of all residents of the Republic, we thank our associates, who managed to open the DPR Representative Center in Italy, in spite of all obstacles and difficulties,” she continued.

The first DPR Representative Office was opened in June, in the Czech Republic. In addition an unofficial DPR representation office has operated in Finland since 2014.